geklautenvsgelaufenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: geklauten is a adjective, gelaufen is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“geklauten” is an adjective and “gelaufen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#47,425
“geklauten” frequency rank
#2,894
“gelaufen” frequency rank
50319
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature geklauten gelaufen
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs geklaut Partizip Perfekt des Verbs laufen

Where the eye mixes geklauten and gelaufen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. geklauten runs 9 letters (CVCCVVCVC) against gelaufen's 8 (CVCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
geklauten
8 ch
gelaufen

Look-alike desk: geklauten vs gelaufen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: geklauten is [ɡəˈklaʊ̯tn̩] while gelaufen is [ɡəˈlaʊ̯fn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50319, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

geklauten is recorded at frequency rank #47,425, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈklaʊ̯tn̩]. gelaufen is at rank #2,894, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈlaʊ̯fn̩].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 50319, this pair ranks #1,178,197 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of geklauten vs gelaufen

Shared letters: aeglnu. Private to "geklauten": kt. Private to "gelaufen": f.

"geklauten" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCVC  ·  "gelaufen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • geklautenegklauten · gekaluten · gekklauten · geklatuen · geklauetn · geklautenn · geklautne · geklautten
  • gelaufeneglaufen · gealufen · gelafuen · gelauefn · gelaufenn · gelauffen · gelaufne · gellaufen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "geklauten" and "gelaufen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "geklauten" is an adjective and "gelaufen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "geklauten" vs "gelaufen" - which ranks higher?
"gelaufen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,894 in our German list, against #47,425 for "geklauten". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "geklauten" and "gelaufen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "geklauten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gelaufen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,178,197 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "geklauten" and "gelaufen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gekauften vs geklauten". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #1,178,197 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list